An Imaginary Winter Scene with People amusing themselves upon a Frozen River with Tents and a Sleigh
manner of Jan Wyck (Haarlem 1645 - Mortlake 1700)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1679 (inscribed) - 1700
Materials
Oil, canvas, wood, gilt plaster
Measurements
838 x 1448 mm (33 x 57 in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Clandon Park, Surrey
NT 1441560
Caption
The setting, though imaginary, appears to be of buildings that are not Dutch, but of the hybrid character that itinerant Dutch artists in England created. If the date on the picture of 1679 is genuine, it may denote the year of one of those severe winters when the River Thames froze over, according to John Evelyn’s diary records.
Summary
[Destroyed in the fire of 2015] Oil painting on canvas, An Imaginary Winter Scene with People amusing themselves upon a Frozen River with Tents and a Sleigh, manner of Jan Wyck (Haarlem 1645 – Mortlake 1700), on right-hand trestle, in white: I:Wyck; inscribed, on left-hand trestle, in red: 1679. Their settings, though imaginary, appear to be of buildings that are not Dutch, but of the hybrid character that itinerant Dutch artists in England created. If the date of 1679 is, as it would appear to be, genuine, it may denote the year of one of those severe winters when the Thames froze over, rather than – or as well as – that of the picture’s execution? John Evelyn’s diary does record “a greate Snowe, & very sharp weather… an huge cloud of Snow, supposed to be frozen together” over London on 12 January 1679 (although that would have been 1678, Old Style Calendar).
Provenance
Sir Woodbine Parish (1796–1882); presumably bought by Stuart, later Lord, Rendel (1834–1913) at auction at Christie’s in 1888 or 1889 to furnish his newly acquired house, Hatchlands; thence by bequest to his grandson, Harry Stuart Goodhart (1887–1959), who in 1902 had expanded his name to Goodhart-Rendel, in anticipation of his inheritance; put up for auction at Christie’s on 7 March 1958, lot 60, bought by HM Treasury to furnish the house - previously in Drawing Room at Hatchlands (HATCH/P/12); bought by the Ministry of Works from Harry Stuart Goodhart-Rendel (1887-1959) and transferred by HM Treasury to the National Trust; on loan from Hatchlands.
Credit line
Hatchlands, The Goodhart-Rendel Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Recto: on a label on the bottom member of the frame, in ink, in a late 19th-century hand: 1889 [tear] No.9 / Nov.22nd / Stuart [Rendel Esqr.] / Winter Scene with Skaters [?]; in chalk: 1 [encircled] Verso: in ink, in a late 19th-century hand on a piece of paper stuck to the back of the top member of the stretcher (top line partially concealed by lining canvas): Winter Scene [––––––] / Skating. J. Wyck. 1679 / 29/11/89 No.163; Christie’s stencil adjacent to this on the left: 1996; later one, far right: 583 LN
Makers and roles
manner of Jan Wyck (Haarlem 1645 - Mortlake 1700), artist